Matt Crafton Grabs the Pole at Texas Motor Speedway; Team Chevy Drivers Score Five of Top-Six Starting Spots and Six of Top-10 for WinStar World Casino 350
Ft. Worth - Matt Crafton put the No. 88 Menards/McGuire Nicholas Silverado on the pole for tomorrow night's WinStar World Casino 350 at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS).
This is Crafton's, who is second in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) standings, second Keystone Light Pole Award of the season; his first in 18 starts at TMS and third of his career.
Chad McCumbee, No. 07 tiwi/Valvoline Silverado, will start third in the 147-lap/220.5-mile/350K race Friday night.
Point leader and three-time NCWTS champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. will roll off fourth behind the wheel of the No. 33 VFW Silverado followed in fifth by David Gilliland in the No. 98 Menards Silverado.
Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Fun Sand/Rio Grand/Curb Records Silverado will start sixth. Ricky Carmichael, No. 4 Monster Silverado, scored the ninth starting position.
Live broadcast coverage will be provided by SPEED TV, MRN Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio.
NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES
WINSTAR WORLD CASINO 350
TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST QUALIFYING QUOTE
NOVEMBER 5, 2009
MATT CRAFTON, NO. 88 MENARDS/MCGUIRE-NICHOLAS SILVERADO, POLE SITTER: “Our truck is very very good. It is obviously the best thing I have ever driven here. I don’t say that very often. I can honestly say that. I have had good trucks in the past but this is the best truck I have ever driven, especially on a mile and a half track. Hopefully, it will be as good tomorrow night. Hopefully the demons won’t come out that we always joke about.
“I am ecstatic. These guys, they went back after Las Vegas…we have run this truck quite a bit. We finished second to our teammate (Johnny Sauter, winner at Las Vegas)…they went to work on it. They weren’t satisfied that we finished second and having ThorSport one-two. They wanted us one-two with the No. 88 in the front. They cut part of the body off on this thing and went to work and made it better.
“I don’t think the track changed too much from day practice to night qualifying. Maybe it gained a little bit of overall grip, but everybody slowed down. I know I slowed down about a tenth, actually a little over a tenth from what we were in qualifying trim during practice earlier. I don’t know. We’ll see what everybody else does.
“We just need to keep that yellow Menards Chevy up front all day. The goal is to lead the most laps and win the race and get the most points and go on to Phoenix and see what we can do there. We have a really really good truck.
“The one we have for Phoenix is as well. They have done a lot of work on it as well. Really excited about Phoenix. That place is kind of like home to me, so really looking forward to going there as well.”
“The truck has been just awesome since we rolled off the trailer. Ran a five-lap run right off in practice and was just ecstatic with the truck. As crazy as it might sound, I think I have a better race truck than I do a qualifying truck. Very very happy with it, both in race trim and then when we put it in qualifying trim, it was really good as well. It will be an exciting race.”
ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT WHERE RON HORNADAY IS STARTING? “I have no idea where he is starting, I haven’t looked. I’m worried about what the No. 88 Menards truck is doing. Just try to lead as many laps as we can and win the race and get the most post points we can and don’t worry about what he is doing. If you do, you start looking over your shoulder and start making mistakes. We just have to go out there and capitalize, like I said lead as many laps as we can.”
HOW MUCH IS GETTING A WIN WEIGHING ON YOUR MIND? “It is definitely weighing on my mind. I feel like I should have won a couple of races, a couple of them have been taken from me. We have been very very fast. It has definitely been tough. I mean, we still have that goose egg in that win column. I can say it all day like that I feel like I should have had one or two or three, but coulda, shoulda, woulda is not getting me any. . So we have to go out there and get them in the last three.”
CHAD MCCUMBEE, NO. 07 TIWI/VALVOLINE SILVERADO, QUALIFIED THIRD: “We were going for the pole there. The tiwi/Valvoline Fuel Proof Guaranteed Chevy was really good in both practices. We have been third and third and third so far in our three sessions this weekend. The guys have been working really hard. We have had a great year. A really big turn-around year and I think we have turned a lot of heads and people realize we are working to be a threat week-in and week-out. Can’t say enough for the work these guys on my team are putting in at the shop. It is following us to the race track so hopefully we can keep this streak going. We have got to get in to victory lane sooner or later; this would be a good place for us to do it here.
“Every time we come to Texas, everybody on the crew is excited. We have run so good here every time we have been here; it has been a great place for me and a place that has really kind of helped my career get further and further down the road. I mean, we have come so close here and been really good at a lot of these races. We just need to finish it out. And if we keep putting ourselves in these types of positions, we will eventually get there, get a wood.
“I am really proud to be a part of the Fuel Proof Guarantee program that tiwi and Valvoline have got on our truck this week. It is really special to have guys that want to support us and get us here. If we can get them to victory lane, hopefully that would help us build on next year and keep building this program. I can’t think of a better place for it to be than here at Texas.”
RON HORNADAY, JR., NO. 33 VFW SILVERADO, QUALIFIED 4TH: “It is so funny here, you practice during the day, we didn’t do that much today. You want to tighten it up, tighten it up. Rick (Ren, crew chief), I think he just put tape on this thing. I think the last time we qualified; I said it was just too comfortable to drive, so I think he tried to make it so I got excited about it. The truck stuck again. I don’t know what to do, I tried to qualify faster, I was wide open, I tried to do different lines. It is pretty maneuverable right now. The track is cool right now and there is a lot of grip. It was a good lap.
“I think we only had 11 laps in practice, we’d tried to do a tire strategy deal just so we have a set of tires at the end. This is a pretty long race and if you get a yellow with 30 (laps) or 40 to go, you can throw tires on and be competitive. We didn’t practice that much. Another year on the track, it is getting slippery out there and I saw a lot of people, like Todd Bodine, run he ran most of practice, a fuel run, he said he got looser. A little different for a night race, so we’ll see. We have to finish this one. We have to finish up front. We know the truck runs good here and we know we have to get a good finish. The last time the oil pump belt came off but we won the two races before. We just have to have Lady Luck on our side and be optimistic and hopefully we will get a good finish out of it.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people at Fort Hood.”
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